“I went there thinking this was going to be another Bernie Madoff situation. Or at the very least, I was certain there would be some type of catch. After all, I’ve never heard of anything that carries all the advantages this adviser was advertising …”

But he ended up getting the surprise of his life …

“Not only did both the adviser and the idea check out 100%, I ended up discussing the strategy with my own 69-year-old father for some of his personal money!”

Now, in a strange twist of fate, Mr. Mattive is trying to bring more attention to these little-known personal endowment plans.

“I’m a well-known analyst and investment writer. I worked for Wall Street firms like Standard & Poor’s … authored a book on finance for McGraw-Hill before I turned 25 … and for a decade, I’ve been covering almost every retirement investment under the sun. So if I had never heard about this amazing way to build wealth conservatively, it’s almost certain that most regular Americans still have no clue it’s possible.”

Yet the time is definitely ripe for this kind of approach.

We are at a point where interest rates remain far lower than historical norms. When the stock market is starting to appear frothy to many pundits. When bonds, CDs, money markets, annuities, and more traditional income investments aren’t paying enough for reasonable returns.

According to veteran financial publisher, Brad Hoppmann,

“This idea splits the difference and provides the combination of safety, security, and higher-than-normal returns that older Americans have been asking for. Meanwhile, there is absolutely no risk of market losses and you get insurance on your money through various government safety nets. The fact that you also get extra benefits like long-term care insurance and tax-free distributions are just icing on the cake.”

For his part, Mr. Mattive says you should at least get the full story on these personal endowment plans while they remain available because the financial companies that offer them can shut them down at any point. (Existing participants would be grandfathered in.)

He also points out that increased popularity could very well end up forcing lawmakers to take a closer look at these personal endowment plans.

“I actually helped popularize a few different Social Security strategies that ended up getting shut down once we brought public attention to them,” he warns. “I have feeling the same thing could happen here eventually.”

So, at least in that respect, these personal endowment plans may end up being too good to remain true.